Turkey Terms

Turkey Terms

TURKEY TERMS Each of the five subspecies of American wild turkey has its distinct physical and behavioral characteristics, but here are common terms: TURKEY TALK f you ask most people what sound a turkey makes, they’ll say gobble. That’s only the beginning. They also cackle, cluck, purr, yelp ... POULT: Newborns, male or and a lot more. In fact, wild turkeys make 28 distinct sounds, and female. Ieach has its own purpose. Some sounds are made only by male turkeys, known as gobblers or toms. The female, or hen, has her own language. Here are the most common ones, which you can listen to at nwtf.org/hunt/ TOM OR GOBBLER: An adult male. wild-turkey-basics/turkey-sounds: ASSEMBLY: A series of loud yelps used by a hen to assemble her flock or young poults. It’s usually a little more emphatic and longer HEN: An adult female, about 5% of which than a standard series of yelps. have beards. CACKLE: A cackle usually consists of three to 10 irregularly spaced notes, loud and staccato, increasing in pitch as the call nears its end. STRUT: Springtime courtship display of a gobbler in which it fans its tail feathers, drops its The cackle is generally associated with leaving the roost but can also wings, flares its back and breast feathers, changes its head and caruncle from blue to red or flesh JENNY: A juvenile female. be heard when a bird is flying up to a roost. tone, brings its head and neck down into an “s” shape, and moves about to attract hens. CLUCK: One or more short, staccato notes. It’s generally used by one bird to get the attention of another and can reassure an approaching gobbler that a hen is waiting for him. SNOOD: A flap of skin that hangs down over the beak. Females CLUCK and PURR: A cluck followed by a rolling purr, often prefer to mate with long-snooded associated with flock talk or the feeling of contentment. males, and male turkeys defer to CUTT: Loud, sharp clucks that are often mixed with yelping. Cutting males with longer snoods. is a sign that turkeys are excited, not alarmed. GOBBLE: A loud, rapid gurgling sound made by male turkeys. The CARUNCLE: Loose, bumpy skin on the head and gobble is one of the principal vocalizations of the male wild turkey neck thought to play a role in attracting a mate. and is used primarily in the spring to let hens know he is in the area. The male’s caruncles can become engorged KEE KEE RUN: A three-note call that lasts about two seconds. A WATTLE: JAKE: A juvenile male. with blood and turn red, white or blue. variation is merely a kee kee followed by a yelp. The kee kee is the A flap of call of lost young turkeys, and variations are also made by adult birds. loose skin hanging PURR: A soft, rolling call turkeys make when content. It is a low under the vocal communication often made by birds that are feeding. chin and PUTT: A single or several sharp notes generally associated as an neck. alarm that means the bird has seen or heard something and is signaling danger. TREE CALL: A series of soft muffled yelps given by a roosted bird that sometimes picks up in volume as fly-down time nears. It may be accompanied by soft clucking and is generally acknowledged as a SPUR: A pointed growth off call to communicate with others in a flock. the back of a turkey’s leg just above the foot. Both YELP: A basic hen sound often delivered in a series of single note sexes are born with a small vocalizations. It can have different meanings depending on how the button spur, but the male’s hen uses it, but it’s a basic call commonly used to communicate with continues to grow and the a gobbler during mating season. A variation is the “excited yelp”, female’s does not. Older, which is similar to a plain yelp but much more excited, rapid and more dominant birds have with more volume. This is not a sign of alarm but indicates that a BEARD: A tuft of bristly feathers off the chest the longest, sharpest spurs, turkey is worked up about something. of males, although some hens have beards. which allow them to fend The longer the beard, the older and healthier off younger birds when Source: National Wild Turkey Federation the bird. Some toms have multiple beards. vying for the right to breed. 34 March/April 2021 —Multiple sources OutdoorIndiana.orgJohn Maxwell photos35.

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